This year marked the implementation of two new components in the returning residential assistant (RA) application process at Point Loma Nazarene University. The additions include an assessment form by their current employing residential director (RD) and a brief presentation as stated by the PLNU website. As the RA application process concluded this week, applicants await the news of their job placement.
Jong Yoon is the residential director of the transfer and second-year dorm, Goodwin Hall, and serves alongside the Residential Life staff in the selection process. Yoon said that as the highest paid on-campus job position, the Residential Life team takes great care in equitably selecting their RA teams.
“We felt as though we needed extra data points for our returners,” Yoon said.
RAs are the people responsible for a group of students in a hall or pod in every residence space. A few of their responsibilities include checking in with residents, working snack box shifts, weekly meetings, programming and student conduct or conflict meetings, according to the PLNU website.
To qualify for the position, students must be full-time and maintain at least a 2.75 GPA. In the past, the process has been similar for first-time and returning applicants, both beginning with an online application, moving to group interviews and finishing with an individual interview with a panel of RDs.
Each phase of the process resulted in cuts, Yoon said, making the RA process competitive. While students applying for the position for the first time follow this same process, the 2025 spring semester brings a new process for second or third-time applicants. After passing the online application phase, their current or previous employing RD would fill out a form about their work throughout the year, replacing the group interview, Yoon said.
Applicants who made it past this portion of the process were invited to a longer individual interview including a short presentation on a prompt provided by the Residential Life team.
“The micro-presentation allows us to learn more about how the RA hopes to live out an inclusive Christian community,” Yoon said. “And the RA evaluation form, conducted by their current RD or ARD [assistant residential director], allows us to learn more about the work they’ve done and what kind of teammate they are.”
Dylan Maguire, a third-year media communication major and current RA in Hendricks Hall, is reapplying to be an RA in the 2025 fall semester.
“Obviously the presentation was more work, being that presenting wasn’t necessarily something I expected to do,” Maguire said.
As a part of the first group to apply through this format, he said that the presentation became more conversational once he began the interview because he knew his interviewers as current bosses. Maguire said he is passionate about being in Residential Life and that it has allowed him to connect with first-years who may have trouble connecting with others at the start of college.
“This is a role that you grow in; it’s a position where you really commit a lot of yourself to and it changes you in really cool ways,” Maguire said.
Isabella Kimerer, a second-year psychology major, is applying for the first time. She said that the RA Information Night event helped cultivate her desire to apply.
“[Residential] Life encourages you to be yourself,” she said. “They stated that you don’t have to be a certain type of personality to be an RA leader.”
Kimerer said she enjoyed the different formats of interviews throughout the process and remained open-minded as she continued through the last phase of the application process.
“The most challenging part of the process has been honestly just the nerves that can come with interviews, especially if it’s something that you care about and something you want to put your best foot forward in,” she said.
Current applicants can expect to hear back about final decisions the week after individual interviews conclude, Yoon said. Future returning applicants for the RA position can begin to prepare for their presentations by thinking through their years of work.
“I hope RAs can look back at their RA experience and not only be proud of the work they’ve done to help create a more inclusive Christian community for their residents but also be proud of their own individual growth as a human,” Yoon said. “I also want them to walk away from a year of good work knowing how loved they are in Christ, knowing how much they bring to the table, and potentially lifelong friendships from the RA team.”
Tessa Balc